


Changing

by Letters_from_the_TARDIS



Series: Engines of War [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Prequel to Nature of War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 02:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11221725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Letters_from_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Letters_from_the_TARDIS
Summary: Prequel to Nature of War.





	Changing

The Doctor watched with slight amusement as the young woman snarled at the recalcitrant computer system. "Would you stop talking about Doctors? I don't need a damn Doctor!"

He stepped out of the shadows, startling her. "I'm a doctor, though probably not the one you were expecting." A shadow of her timelines flitted across his eyelids, bringing a reverse echo of great triumph and tragedy. She was meant for great things.

On impulse, he asked her a question. "What's your name?"

She stood up and started to turn around. "Cass."

The Doctor smiled. "Excellent. Welcome aboard."

There was a slight tremor in her voice as the Doctor took Cass by the elbow and led her toward the back of the ship. "Aboard what, exactly?"

He paused by the door behind which his TARDIS lay. "You'll see."

The Doctor set his sonic screwdriver to the door, and frowned when the door wouldn't budge. "What's wrong with it?"

Cass moved him aside. "The emergency protocols." She did something almost too fast to parse, and the doors easily slid aside.

He took Cass's hand and towed her toward the TARDIS. At her uneasy look, the Doctor tried for a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. It's bigger on the inside."

Cass backed away, disbelief blossoming on her features like blood. "What did you say?"

The Doctor's stomach felt like someone had dropped ice in it, but he politely repeated himself. "It's bigger on the inside."

Cass stared at him in disgust. "It's a TARDIS."

Still daring to hope that he might win her over, the Doctor gently tugged on Cass's hand. "It's quite nice. I think you'll like it."

Cass's face twisted into a rictus of pain and betrayal. "Don't touch me!" She violently ripped her hand out of his grasp.

The Doctor leaned forward, palms up in supplication. "I'm not involved in the war."

Cass scoffed. "You're a Time Lord."

The hateful emphasis on the last two words told him exactly how she felt about Time Lords. "Look on the bright side. At least I'm not a Dalek." The Doctor quipped.

Cass let out a growl of rage, and stepped out of his reach, into the hallway. "Who can tell the difference anymore?" She spat. Before the Doctor could do anything, Cass pressed a button, and the door clanged shut, trapping the Doctor.

He lunged at the door, slamming an impotent fist into it. "Cass!"

She didn't even glance up. "It's deadlock sealed, so don't even try anything."

Hearts in his throat, the Doctor continued to pound on the door with his fists, beyond reason now. "Cass, I'm trying to help!"

She sneered at him through the permaglass. "Go back to your battlefield, Time Lord. Or haven't you noticed that part of the universe is still standing?"

The Doctor was abruptly calm. Either he'd get out of here, or he wouldn't. "I'm not leaving here without you."

Cass smiled, and it was not a smile that belonged on the face of a young woman. It was ancient, bitter, and cynical. "Then one of you is going to die. Best news I've heard all day."

Cass turned away, and walked slowly down the hall.

As she did, as the Doctor continued to yell her name, as the ship collided with Karn at thousands of miles an hour, the timelines changed.

Cass was no longer the great warrior, and the Doctor was no longer an impartial observer, content to save whom he could.


End file.
